Keeping ducks in a personal plot is a very profitable business. More than 100 eggs and about 50 ducklings can be obtained from a single individual per year. Of course, raising ducks for meat at home is a procedure that requires compliance with certain rules. In particular, they must be followed by those who have decided to breed this bird in order to obtain additional income. In the review, we will tell you what a beginner businessman needs to know and how to create his own business.
Which breed to choose: musky ducks
Of course, you should start a business by choosing a species of bird. One of the reasons for the not too high popularity of duck meat in the market is its fat content. Therefore, in recent years, farmers are increasingly paying attention to such a breed as musky. The meat of these ducks is lean and juicy.
Under the beak or above the musk specimens are red leather growths. Their plumage is usually white or black and white. Because of this unusual appearance, the people called these birds Indo-Indians. The weight of an adult duck of this breed can reach 2.5 kg. Drakes grow larger - up to 5 kg. This bird is ideal if you decide to do such a thing as raising ducks for meat at home. See a photo of an individual musk breed below.
Moscow whites
This fairly new breed was obtained by crossing Peking ducks with hakikempbellami. One of its distinguishing features is a long head and a wide beak. The mass of drakes of this breed can reach 4 kg, ducks - 3.5 kg. One of the undoubted advantages of Moscow white is delicious, tender meat.
Ukrainian breed
These birds in household plots are also quite common. Their color can be gray, clay or white. The most common is the last option. The mass of Ukrainian drakes is an average of 3.5 kg, ducks - 2.5 kg. Up to 220 eggs can be obtained from one brood hen per year.
What should be a house
Of course, growing ducks for meat at home is only possible with a rather spacious barn. The house can be frame, pavers, stone, etc. The floor in the barn is best made stone or brick. Small animals - ferrets, mice, rats, etc. - can harm ducks very easily. Before laying brick, the ground in the house must be carefully compacted.
A soft litter is laid on top of the hard floor. You can make it from hay, straw or sawdust. You can also fill the shed with dry sand. It is absolutely necessary to arrange manholes in the duckbill above the floor. They are necessary so that the bird can freely enter the barn and leave it.
In the caddy, you need to install feeders, drinking bowls and nests. Next to him arrange a fenced small paddock. Here you also need to put a couple of drinking bowls and a feeder. The first can be made of buckets (not galvanized) by dipping them into the ground. As feeders, usually set special troughs. It is important to choose their sizes correctly. On one head should be about 10 cm of the perimeter of the side. The drinkers should be deep enough so that the bird can flush the nasal openings.
The size of the barn is determined on the basis that 2-3 ducks should account for about one square meter of space.
Jacks
Farmers who have wondered how to grow ducks for meat at home should be aware of what the nests of this bird should be. Duck eggs are slightly smaller than chickens. However, special places for masonry in the barn should be foreseen, of course. Duck nests are quite large in size - 50x50x35. They are ordinary boxes with a thatched bottom.
Basic content rules
Of course, those who decide to start breeding this bird as a business need to be aware of how to care for it. First of all, it should be borne in mind that raising ducks for meat at home is a procedure that necessarily requires compliance with the regime. The productivity of the bird directly depends on this. Typically, in private households, the following method is practiced:
- In the morning, the bird is released into the pond. You can open the caddy no earlier than 10 hours. Bird eggs are usually carried in the morning.
- After 5-6 hours, the ducks are driven into a paddock for feeding.
- Then they are again released into the pond.
- In the evening, before going to bed, the troughs are again filled with food.
At night, the bird is driven into the barn. Soon, the ducks get used to this routine and themselves come from the reservoir to the house by the time of feeding.
Slaughter
Growing ducks for meat as a business is quite profitable. During the season, if desired, you can grow 3-4 broods. A whole summer of ducks, like chickens, do not hold. They are usually killed before the first juvenile molting - at 50-60 days of age. The carcasses of such ducks have a presentation as they do not have hemp. There is another reason for such an early slaughter - purely economic. The fact is that until two months of age, the amount of feed consumed per individual during the month is only about 2.5-5.5 kg, depending on the age of the bird. Individuals who are older begin to eat very much, gaining fat. By 3-5 months. ducks are supposed to give up to 20-25 kg of feed. Two-month-old ducklings weigh about two kilograms, and six-month-old ducklings weigh 4 kg. Therefore, to contain ducks more than 2.5-3 months. impractical.
All summer the same brood can be kept only if the farm is located on the banks of a large reservoir, where ducks can get enough food for themselves. However, in this case, many owners of such a business prefer to slaughter a bird earlier. In large ducks, meat is usually too fat.
Growing ducks for meat at home: feeding
As already mentioned, food for this bird is usually given twice a day. In the morning you can feed concentrated feed (crushed). In the evening, give a mash. The latter can consist of fresh grass, root crops, vegetables, etc. You can also use kitchen waste, milk whey, meat and bone or fish flour, mineral additives, etc.
The share of cereals and mealy in the diet of ducks should be about 80%. The remaining 20% are wet mixes and various additives.
How to get ducklings
The question of how to grow ducks for meat comes down to how you can get your own young. These hens are not as good as hens. However, some individuals still sit on their eggs. A way out can also be found if no duck does this. Very often, eggs are simply laid under chickens. Duck youngsters are bred just a few days later than chickens.
Chicken will take care of the kids . But young animals raised by a klush are usually not allowed into the pond. The sight of floating “chickens” greatly injures the psyche of a brood hen. In any case, launching babies into a pond, if they are grown without a duck, is not allowed until they have fluff and real plumage. The fact is that very small chicks do not have subcutaneous fat. Therefore, they can just catch a cold.
Sometimes ducklings are also obtained in incubators. In this case, feeding them will be somewhat more difficult. But it's still worth a try. Laying the eggs in the incubator, you need to be prepared for the fact that the chicks are not far from all of them. The yield of young animals in any case (under a duck, chicken or in an incubator) is usually not more than 50%. The fact is that there are no antibacterial substances in the protein of duck eggs. As a result, many embryos die at the developmental stage.
Ducklings care
Of course, the young growth of this bird, like any other, must provide optimal conditions for growth and development. Immediately after hatching, ducklings are usually brought into a warm room and kept for several days at a temperature of at least 20-25 g. However, it would be better to put them in boxes or cages (20-25 pieces per 1 m2), with heating not less than +30 gr. This air temperature can be achieved using conventional incandescent bulbs. They are installed in cell gratings. After three weeks, the ducklings are seated in different pens so that there are no more than 12 pieces per square meter. By this time, the temperature is reduced to 16-18 gr. (gradually). Lighting for newborns is arranged around the clock. By three weeks of age, its duration should be about 16 hours.
How to grow ducks for meat. How to feed the chicks
The diet of freshly hatched ducklings includes usually boiled eggs and very finely divided oatmeal. From the second to the third day of life, cottage cheese is included in the diet, and from 5-6, finely chopped greens and aquatic vegetation (in a ratio of about 0.5x1). From ten days old, you can already add potatoes and finely chopped root crops to the ducklings.
At first, children are given food 6-8 times a day. Starting from the 10th day until the age of one month, the number of feedings is reduced to 5-6, then to 2-4 times a day.
Winter duck keeping
Private traders growing ducks for meat in the country only in summer is most often practiced. Farmers who breed this bird for selling carcasses usually keep it in the winter. At this time of the year, certain rules must be followed for successful cultivation.
They feed the bird in winter not two, but at least three times a day. In the morning and in the afternoon give mixers, in the evening - cereals. Cold ducks tolerate pretty well. However, it is not allowed to allow the air temperature in the house to fall below 5 degrees. You should also protect the ducks from drafts. If the litter in the barn is wet, their egg production will decrease. Therefore, dry hay or sawdust should be periodically sprinkled onto the floor in the house. In this case, putrefactive processes with the release of heat will begin to occur in the lower layers.
In the pond for swimming ducks in the winter, you can make an ice hole. The complexity of its equipment consists primarily in the fact that to prevent the bird from getting under the ice, its edges will have to be fenced. But you can keep ducks in the cold season and without swimming.
In order to make ducks race better, additional lighting should be arranged in the house. Light bulbs include in the mornings and evenings. They will not reduce duck egg production in winter only if there is lighting for at least 14 hours a day.
What should be a pond
Sometimes this bird is kept in the land way (in cages or aviaries). It is this method that is practiced if ducks are grown for meat under industrial conditions. But for small farms, free range is still considered more preferable. The pond intended for this bird should have a fairly vast area and shallow depth. Ducks dive very well and can get food from the bottom up to 1 m. It is not recommended to arrange very deep water bodies on the site. In this case, duck droppings, sinking to the bottom - where water layers are not mixed - begins to rot with the release of methane. As a result, the lake "blooms." In flowing ponds, the duck landing density can be significantly reduced.
Useful Tips
And finally, we will give a few recommendations that may be useful to beginner business poultry farmers:
- The daily routine for ducks should be followed without fail. Otherwise, the bird will reduce productivity.
- You can not transfer ducks to another room when the laying period begins. Otherwise, the bird may begin to molt. Duck eggs will no longer be laid.
- The bird is very shy. Therefore, you must handle it carefully.
As you can see, raising ducks for meat at home is not particularly difficult. The main thing is to arrange a comfortable barn for the bird, properly develop a diet and observe the regime. In this case, you can get tens of kilograms of tasty, environmentally friendly and expensive duck meat during the season.